Henry Scrope of Spennithorpe and Danby
m Elizabeth Conyers d 03.03.1609, dau of Simon Conyers of Danby BLG
identifies Elizabeth's father Simon as grandson of Sir John Conyers of
Hornby. However, although BLG also refers to the connection with the Earls
of Yarborough which seems to confirm that this is meant to refer to the
Sir John who died at the battle of Edgcote in 1469, the dates seem wrong.
This is to be investigated further.

Adrian
Scrope - born about 12 January, 1600; believed to be the regicide, Col.
Adrian Scrope, whose signature is on the death warrant of King Charles.
Adrian Scrope was prominent under Cromwell in the Great Rebellion; fought
at Edgehill and other battles, was Governor of Bristol Castle, a Commissioner
to Scotland, and was appointed one of the High Court of Justice which condemned
Charles the First to be beheaded. He attended that Court with exemplary
regularity, sat close to Bradshaw, the President, was 37th to sign the
death warrant on Jan. 27, 1648. During the political revolutions of 1659-60,
he apparently remained neutral and had some prospect of escape at the Restoration
of Charles the Second. He surrendered himself in obedience to the King's
proclamation; the House of Commons voted he should have the benefit of
the Act of Indemnity on payment of one year's rent, but the House of Lords
ordered all the King's judges to be arrested and excepted Scrope absolutely
from pardon. Later, the Commons reiterated their vote in Scrope's favour,
but the Lords remained firm. Taken altogether, this was an inexcusable
breach of faith, as Scrope had surrendered in reliance upon the King's
proclamation.At
his Trial, held at Old Bailey, Oct. 12, 1660, Scrope defended himself with
dignity and moderation. He admitted, reluctantly, that he had signed the
death warrant of Charles the First. Pleaded that "he was not in the parliament,
and that which was done in the high court of justice, it was done by a
commission from the parliament, and it was that authority that was then
accounted the supreme authority of the nation." Answering this plea, the
presiding judge gave an exposition of the British Constitution, showed
that the so-called Parliament which had appointed the High Court of Justice
was not only unconstitutional but unrepresentative, for "there was but
forty-six sat, whereas there were above two hundred and forty excluded,"
and said : "When men shall assume their acts by obeying them, it is an
aggravation." Scrope then pleaded : "If I have been misled, I am not a
single person that has been misled, for I see a great many faces that were
misled at that time as well as myself," and "I hope that an error of the
judgement shall not be accounted an error of the will, for I never went
to the work with a malicious heart," to which Lord Chief Barron replied
: "If a man do an act of this nature, that may be some kind of excuse to
God, but towards man you are to look to the fact." Scrope then reminded
the Court that he had surrendered himself on the King's proclamation, but
Richard Browne, lord mayor elect of London, in whom "there was great meanness,
if not worse," certainly a renegade, for he had been formerly a major-general
in the parliamentary army and a kind of a friend of Scrope's, now anxious
to prove his loyalty to the new regime, swore that since the restoration
of Charles the Second, Scrope had used words apparently justifying the
late King's execution and had not pronounced it murder, saying "some are
of the opinion, and some of another," and this evidence, which also led
to the abandonment of Scrope by the Commons, sealed his fate and he was
executed at Charing Cross, London, England on Oct. 17, 1660, aged 58. The
Chief Justice, who treated Scrope with great civility and was as just as
could be expected at the time, stated : "Mr. Scrope to give him his due
is not such a person as some of the rest, but he was unhappily engaged
in this bloody business." Noble in his "Lives of the Regicides," states
: "It was a thousand pities that if so many were to die as public examples,
some of the others were equally guilty of the King's death, and whose lives
were a disgrace to any cause, were not substituted in his stead." Ludlow,
a contemporary probably his great uncle Lu12-1
Sir Edmund Ludlow,
said : "His port and mean were noble, and the endowments of his mind every
way answerable," and an account of his behaviour in prison and at the gallows
describes him as "a comely ancient gentleman," and dwells on his cheerfulness
and courage. The night preceeding his death, a nephew came to him in his
dungeon and requested him to repent of the part he acted in the King's
death, and submit to the present King's mercy, to which he replied, "avoid
satan," and this same night he composed himself and "slept so sound he
snored." At the gallows he referred to "him through whose means I was brought
here to suffer, I say no more, the Lord forgives him, I shall not name
him," and in his last prayer, he asked for "strength to stand and endure
the present hour of temptation," after which the executioner performed
his bloody office.

William Scrope - born 19 March, 1636 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England; possible
alias as a Throope who died 4 December, 1704 and was buried in East Burial
Ground Cem, Bristol, Rhode Island This resort also seems likely, since
Roger Ludlow
his second cousin became the father of jurisprudence in nearby Connecticut.